Diversity should include people with disabilities

Opinion

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This article was published 04/11/2021 (1429 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WHEN did disability disappear from diversity? Given that the employment rate for those living with disabilities in 2017 was at 59 per cent compared to 80 per cent for non-disabled Canadians, you would think that diversity goals should include disabled Canadians. But that doesn’t seem to be the case.

The focus remains on Black, Indigenous and people of colour — who have also faced a lack of representation in the workplace. Steps are now being taken to right that wrong, with a strong commitment and a lot of political time and attention paid to hiring BIPOC individuals by corporations to ensure that diversity goals are being met.

But disabled individuals do not seem to be getting the same attention as part of these diversity goals — unless they also fall into one of those other categories.

Recently, CBC Manitoba advertised its Pathways program, a full-time, five-month paid development opportunity for up to “three Indigenous, Black, or People of Colour candidates to learn the essential elements of working as a reporter in a CBC newsroom.” It includes a journalism boot camp, allows the candidates to be paired with mentors and provides practical experience at $29 an hour.

When questioned about why disabled persons weren’t part of this, Nadia Kidwai, the executive producer for diversity and inclusion at CBC Manitoba, said that disabled persons who were also BIPOC could apply, but there was a separate program for those who were disabled only.

Indeed, there is. It’s called the CBC Abilicrew Placements for Excellence (CAPE) Program and, according to the CBC’s website, it’s only a twelve-week paid placement program (compared to 20 weeks). And it’s for six entry-level positions across the country. No talk of mentorship or a journalism boot camp for this one, either.

This is not surprising to Nancy Hansen, a professor at the University of Manitoba and the director of the interdisciplinary master’s program in disability studies. “Ableism is so endemic. It’s often not recognized as a problem,” she says.

Hansen has seen this type of chronic separation before where disabled people are put into separate programs. When they are considered an “add-on” to programs already in place, persons with disabilities are often not given full accommodation, because they are often viewed as too expensive or disruptive.

“Companies feel like they are somehow doing the participant a ‘favour’ by offering them a job, when what they are really doing is providing inclusion. Sometimes it feels like they think people should be grateful for a ramp and a toilet,” Hansen says.

Steven Fletcher is a prime example. As a newly elected MLA, he had a difficult time fully accessing the provincial legislature when he took office in 2016. Renovations had to be made in time to ensure he could be in the backbench area, but there still wasn’t progress made for him and his wheelchair to move around the entire chamber. Fletcher claimed costs were the reason behind the lack of progress in renovating the space.

In an Angus Reid survey published just before the federal election, 86 per cent of Canadians living with a disability said that accessibility issues have affected their lives occasionally, with 58 per cent saying that accessibility is often a problem. In some cases, it means not being able to enter a building because the door entryway is too narrow to accommodate a motorized scooter. In other cases, it may mean limited access to washrooms or drinking fountains or being able to see screens or hear announcements.

There seems to be a continuum of what’s “sexy” right now on the diversity scale. Or maybe it’s what’s perceived as affordable and palatable. Wheelchair users may be perceived as expensive. People who are thought of as different aren’t always pretty. But they are still important because they make up a significantly large percentage of Canada’s population. They deserve to be working in meaningful employment. They deserve to be seen, not just in our media, but in our universities, our boardrooms and our legislative assemblies.

But if they are not welcome, they don’t have a shot. Diversity must include disability.

Shannon Sampert is a Winnipeg-based political scientist and the former politics and perspectives editor of the Winnipeg Free Press.

shannon@mediadiva.ca